Under the Skin
by Savage-Lilly
Summary: Hermione is involved with Ron, but suddenly Draco starts acting very suspiciously and makes Hermione question her relationship with Ron. What is Draco up to? And will he succeed?
1. Hermione's Dream

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, they belong to J.K Rowling. I only own the plot.  
  
N/A: Thanks to Kira (Danish-girl) for correcting this chapter.  
  
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Chapter 1: Hermione's Dream  
  
"Now, now, there you are Granger", said a voice behind Hermione, she looked up and turned around and saw that it was her archenemy Draco Malfoy. He was looking at her from across the room.  
  
She was sitting at a table in big, cold library, alone, studying of course, with open books covering the table, and felt very annoyed by this interruption.  
  
"Geez, what does he want now?" she thought to herself.  
  
"I've been looking all over the castle for you and you were just so hard to find, I'd never guessed you'd be in the library," he said with overdone sarcasm.  
  
"Not quite for the academy," Hermione snapped, "but since you have interrupted my Potions homework, you might as well tell me what you it is that you want," continued she. He walked slowly closer, looking like he owned the world; he sat down by the table, right next to Hermione. She could feel his arm next to hers.  
  
"Hmm, Potions homework, is it that silly essay you're working on? Snape came to our common room last night and told us that we don't have to do that, and by we, I mean the Slytherins," said Draco in a supercilious voice.  
  
Hermione frowned "What? You're off the hook?" asked Hermione, feeling the anger building up inside, "that bastard," she thought, not that she minded writing essays, but how dared Professor Snape give only half the class homework?  
  
All this seemed a bit irrelevant since Draco had just put his hand on her one thigh. Hermione shivered.  
  
"W-what are you do...?"  
  
Draco stopped her by putting one of his fingers on her lips. "Shh, mudblood," Draco whispered. Hermione wanted to react to this insult, but was distracted by Draco's hand moving towards her private parts.  
  
She felt her hands tremble and her throat cramp. Draco turned her head, forcing her to look at him. She was staring into his blue eyes.  
  
"Wow, his eyes are really like sapphires," she thought, remembering how she had overheard Pansy saying that just the other day, "and his scent, ooh so sweet, his touch, so soft, feather-like...can't breathe..." she thought and a second after she realized what was going on.  
  
"Wow, hold on, wait, what do you think you are doing", she suddenly said while getting up from her seat. Draco got up too grabbing her wrist tightly.  
  
"Oh shut up, you know you want to," he said forcing her to sit on the table.  
  
"But... but..." Hermione said.  
  
"I said, shut up!" snapped Draco, tightening his grip around her wrist. Suddenly he turned soft like a kitten again and loosened his grip, and with his free hand he unbuttoned her robe. Hermione's heart was racing, her throat cramping and her hands trembling.  
  
Draco's hands had now found their way under her blouse to her hips, and they were now caressing her skin there, but not for long, because he moved upwards as he started placing small, soft kisses on her collar. Hermione moaned.  
  
"Ah, I see the mudblood is enjoying this," said Draco lifting his one eyebrow, and before Hermione could say anything, he was kissing her. A long soft, wet, deep kiss, leaving Hermione pleading for more inside. Draco kissed her again, the same deep kiss as before, and Hermione gave completely in to him, allowing herself to wrap her arms around him and running her fingers through his blond hair.  
  
Draco kept leaving ticklish kisses dwelling on her raspberry coloured lips.  
  
Soon the two of them were half undressed, lying on the table and making further out in the library.  
  
"But Draco, what if someone sees us?" asked Hermione between two kisses.  
  
"Shh, they won't..." he answered and continued kissing her and twirled her brown, wavy hair around his finger. Then he continued, "They're all at the Quidditch game."  
  
"But Draco, shouldn't you be..." Hermione said.  
  
"No more questions!" Draco snapped. Hermione, once again felt insulted, but forgot all about it when Draco placed another one of his divine kisses on Hermione's lips.  
  
While being busy, Hermione and Draco fell from the table to the hard, cold floor.  
  
**  
  
Suddenly Hermione woke up, gasping, "what a dream", she thought, smiling to herself.  
  
"What are you smiling at honey?" said Ron, who was lying next to her, "Having hot dreams about me again?" Ron grinned and placed a kiss on Hermione's lips.  
  
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Okay, what do you think? Please review, but be kind this is my first real fanfiction : ) 


	2. Potions Class

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, they belong to J.K Rowling. I only own the plot.  
  
A/N: Thanks for the reviews for the first chapter.  
  
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Chapter Two: Potions class  
  
Hermione and Ron had been together nearly three months, and Hermione was very happy about it, she had always thought that a good and long-lasting relationship should be built on friendship and now she had one.  
  
"What are you smiling at honey?," said Ron, who was lying next to her, "Having hot dreams about me again?" Ron grinned and placed a kiss on Hermione's lips.  
  
"Eh...er..," hesitated Hermione, "Yeah, there you got me," said Hermione and gave a small forced laugh, but Ron didn't notice, he was already out of bed and busy getting his robes on.  
  
They had been spending the night together in Hermione's special prefect room, and now Ron had to sneak out under Harry's Invisibility Cloak before the rest of Hogwarts woke up. Even though most of the school knew they were dating, they had come to the conclusion that it probably wouldn't be the best idea if Hermione was discovered letting boys spend the night in her room.  
  
Ron was standing in front of the mirror, trying to get his red hair combed. Besides the mirror, the room also contained a large closet, a four poster bed with loads of pillows in soft, light colours, there was also a trunk where Hermione kept all her more personal stuff, like her diaries and gifts from back home, and a desk with a chair. The desk was, of course, covered in books and parchment. In one end of the room there was a door which lead to the stairs and down to the Gryffindors' common room, in the other end of the room there was a door to Hermione's private bathroom.  
  
"Well, I better get going," said Ron.  
  
"Yeah, okay, so see you in class," said Hermione and waved at him when he left the room.  
  
Now Hermione was in a big dilemma: should she go back to sleep for about 30 minutes or should she just get out of bed and take a nice, long bath? She decided to just get ready and read up on today's homework.  
  
"Hmm, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall first," she thought to herself, "and then Herbology with Professor Sprout, and, eww, Potions with Professor *I favour stupid Slytherins* Snape, urgh, I'm just NOT in the mood for that today! Hmm, but on the other hand, it is a double class with Draco and if he is just half as good as in my dream then...," Hermione stopped herself from thinking that thought through.  
  
"Oh my god, Hermione, pull yourself together! You're with Ron! How can you even be thinking anything like that about another guy? And then with Draco? Yuck, and he's a Slytherin," she thought while being disgusted with herself.  
  
Hermione went down to breakfast, there was no sign of Ron and Harry.  
  
"Must have been here earlier," Hermione thought.  
  
For breakfast she had some cereal and a glass of fresh, cold pumpkin juice. She enjoyed her breakfast almost alone at the Gryffindors' table, there was only a few 1st years in the other end of the table and then a couple of second years not far from her.  
  
After breakfast, she went to Professor McGonagall's class.  
  
"That was a nice class today," said Hermione to Ron and Harry while walking out of the classroom.  
  
"That's only because you scored Gryffindor 10 points," said Harry laughing.  
  
"Yeah, so? There's just some things you just have to know, Harry, I know you haven't realized it yet, but after five years with Transfiguration, then you just have to memorize the basic knowledge," said Hermione sending Harry the "I'm-about-to-give-up-on-you"-eyes.  
  
"Ha-ha," said Harry ironically.  
  
After Herbology, the three Gryffindors walked towards the dungeons trying to get ready for Potions class.  
  
"I don't like Potions class," blurted Ron.  
  
"Err, Ron? Nobody does," said Harry.  
  
"Oh come on guys, I mean, I know Snape can be a pain in the butt, but you never know when potions might come in handy. Just think about the Polyjuice Potion," said Hermione positively, even though she'd rather be complaining like the guys.  
  
"Oh, I'd rather not think about that," said Ron making a "I'm-going-to- throw-up"-face.  
  
"Oh yeah, that was one disgusting potion," laughed Harry.  
  
"Guys," Hermione thought and rolled her eyes. ----- Dungeons. Potions class. Professor Snape.  
  
The class was waiting for Professor Snape, not that he wasn't on time, but everyone simply showed up early so they were sure that they wouldn't be late, 'cause Potions class is a class you DON'T want to be late at  
  
They were all sitting in their seats in the cold, dampy classroom, with bottles filled with different coloured potions, covering all the shelves in the room. Red, green, blue, yellow, black, purple, orange, pink, you name it.  
  
Snape's desk was covered in stacks of parchment, most likely assignments or various kinds of potions recipes.  
  
Professor Snape entered, wearing his usual black, dusty robe.  
  
"I wonder, if he ever changes or even washes his clothes," whispered Harry.  
  
"I don't even think he showers," grinned Ron.  
  
"Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, would you mind sharing your topic with the rest of us, since it's so interesting that you're not paying attention?", said Snape and stared coldly at them.  
  
"Oh god, here we go again," thought Hermione and sighed.  
  
Ron and Harry's cheeks turned red.  
  
"Err, we were just discussing today's homework sir," answered Harry.  
  
"Hmm, I see, well shut up! You can chit chat when you're not in my class," snapped Snape, "now, I'll pair you and then you'll do the potion on page 211!".  
  
Snape started pairing them, and Hermione was hoping to get either Ron or Harry, just not...  
  
"Ah, miss Granger, you'll be working with Mr. Malfoy."  
  
"Damn," thought Hermione and hoped the disappointment she felt wasn't written all over her face.  
  
Malfoy smirked at her when he sat down beside her.  
  
"So, mudblood, are you gonna get the things we need?," said Draco looking very superior.  
  
Hermione's blushed and felt her stomach cramp. She frowned.  
  
"Look, you little stupid prick! I am so sick of your insults, I swear the next time I hear you say that word, I'm gonna...," said Hermione angrily, but was interrupted by Professor Snape.  
  
"Miss Granger, I do NOT want to hear that language in my class! If you can't behave, then you'll have to leave!".  
  
Hermione's mouth fell open.  
  
"What? Are you even listening? That moron has been calling me...," said Hermione.  
  
"Miss Granger, there is no need for name calling here! Ten points from Gryffindor!," said Professor Snape raising his voice.  
  
Hermione lost control of herself.  
  
"You can't do that! You didn't even hear half of it! Now, if you just would stop with the favouritism, then you'd see that what the problem really is, that is if you can think about some else than yourself for a second!," snapped Hermione speaking very quickly.  
  
"MISS GRANGER! HOW DARE YOU? I WILL NOT TOLERATE BEING TALKED TO LIKE THAT! 50 points from Gryffindor and you will serve detention! End of discussion, now do the bloody potion," yelled Snape.  
  
Hermione felt embarrassed, ashamed and angrier than ever, but she collected the things she needed and did the potion without talking to Malfoy, he was just sitting there, smirking and looking like a goddamn Slytherin.  
  
"A devil disguised as an angel," Hermione thought.  
  
When the class was finished Hermione left the classroom fast, so Harry and Ron came running up beside her.  
  
"If I remember correctly, then weren't you the one sort of defending Potions class before?," said Ron teasing.  
  
"Shut up!," said Hermione, walking faster.  
  
"Oh Hermione, it was only a joke, right Ron? The whole class admire you for doing that, talking back to Snape. He's a bastard, just ignore him," said Harry, trying to calm Hermione down.  
  
"Do you think I can just ignore this? I'm a prefect and I've just lost my house 50 points, plus I have to serve detention in his freaking, slimy dungeons! Oh yeah, I'm all over it now, "said Hermione, walking away from Harry and Ron.  
  
"That joke, can't be good for your relationship," teased Harry Ron.  
  
Ron looking very hopeless answered: "Oh knock it off, Harry".  
  
"Relax, she'll come around, just give her some time," said Harry.  
  
Hermione went to her room after Potions class and she didn't show up for lunch.  
  
"That malicious little fool! How dare he? That spoiled idiot! Pureblood my ass!," Hermione thought to herself while taking off her robe and throwing herself at her four poster bed.  
  
"I can't believe I didn't just ignore him! Why did I have to make such a big deal out of it?," she thought and a voice inside told that she shouldn't have lowered herself to his level.  
  
She buried her face in one of the pillows on the bed, trying to hold back the tears.  
  
"Hermione, he's not worth it! He's not worth crying over, he doesn't deserve your tears," she told herself.  
  
Her eyes fell on the bracelet Ron had given her after they had been together a month.  
  
It was a silver bracelet with little hearts dangling from it. She remembered how romantic it had been the night he had given it to her. They had been in Hermione's room and he had lit candles and the given her his best kiss and then he had given her the bracelet. It had been the night when they both lost their virginity. Normally Ron wasn't that romantic, actually this probably the only time he had been really romantic, so Hermione was sure he had gotten a few tips from Ginny, being the only girl in his family.  
  
"He's never really been the romantic type, always making fun, joking around. I really didn't need that joke today, why can't he take anything seriously? Argh! I bet Draco would take it seriously, he would be there for me, comfort me, hold me in his handsome arms...," Hermione thought, but broke herself off her thought-train, "What the hell is wrong with you today Granger? Dreaming about Draco, not only at night in unconsciousness, but also during the day! He is out of your league! Besides how could you ever even think about him like that, after all the mocking and torment he has put you, Harry and Ron through, you fool," she told herself, "you know Ron loves you and that's it!".  
  
And it was true, Ron did love her, but did she really love him? Enough?  
  
There was a loud knock on the door that gave Hermione a shock, she jumped up from the bed and walked over to the door while correcting her clothes.  
  
She unlocked the door with a large iron key and opened the door. At first there was no one there, but suddenly out of the blue a blonde, handsome guy wearing a Slytherin robe appeared. Draco.  
  
"But...How did you? What?," said Hermione in a shaky voice.  
  
"Look, Harry's not the only one with an Invisibility Cloak, ok?," said Draco looking Hermione directly in the eyes, "are you gonna let me in or do I have to stand here all day?"  
  
Hermione looked questioning at him, "Why?," she asked.  
  
"Because I have something to tell you," said Draco impatiently.  
  
Hermione looked away and opened the door wider, "if you insist."  
  
Draco entered the room walking over to the bed and turned around looking at Hermione while she closed the door.  
  
"Lock it too," ordered Draco.  
  
She hesitated.  
  
"Look, I'm not gonna bite you," said Draco.  
  
Hermione locked the door, but this whole situation made her really uncomfortable. "Why is he really here? What is it he's gonna tell me? What is going on? How did he get through the Fat Lady? Where did he get that Invisibility Cloak?," speculated Hermione.  
  
As if he had read her mind, Draco said, "You're probably wondering how I got through the Fat Lady, right? I sneaked in with a couple of first years, piece of cake, especially with this Invisibility Cloak that Dad bought me."  
  
He looked at Hermione, and she made a gesture for him to go on, but he didn't.  
  
"Okay, but why are you here? I'd never thought you'd set foot in the Gryffindors area, especially not in the room where I, a "filthy mudblood", live," said Hermione, trying to be more secure at herself, than she actually was inside.  
  
"Yeah, about that...," started Draco, "that's why I'm here..".  
  
"What? Do I have to drag it out of you?," said an upset Hermione when Draco didn't continue.  
  
"Well, err, I've come to...I've come to say that, err, I'm...," said Draco looking strangely insecure from Hermione's point of view, "I'm sorry."  
  
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Now, now, what is this? Draco apologizing to Hermione? What is he up to? Find out in the next chapters, I hope you enjoyed this one : ) Please review. 


	3. Detention

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, they belong to J.K Rowling. I only own the plot.  
  
A/N: Thanks for all of your lovely reviews. I really appreciate them.  
  
**Chapter three - Detention  
  
**Hermione's mouth fell open. "What?" said she.  
  
"Don't look at me like that," said Draco, "I know, this is not what you or any other person on this school would have thought of me, but I am," stopped Draco.  
  
Hermione was overwhelmed with surprise. Was Draco Malfoy in her room? And did he just apologize to her? After all these years where he had mocked her and now he was claiming to be sorry for it. Hermione couldn't believe it nor could she make any sense of it.  
  
Draco continued, "I am sorry, I don't know if it'll make any difference, but I really am."  
  
Hermione took a deep breath and walked over to the window next to her bed, she let out a deep sigh, then turned around, now facing Draco. She looked into his eyes, making a note to herself that his eyes weren't really like sapphires, they were more greyish and at this point they begged for forgiveness. She didn't really know how to handle this. What did he want from her? Why should she care?  
  
"What do you want from me? Why have you come here? To tell me you're sorry? What do expect from me? To forgive you?" said Hermione.  
  
Draco looked away to avoid the look in Hermione's eyes.  
  
"I...I...," started Draco.  
  
Hermione was getting impatient and was annoyed by Draco's unfamiliar insecurity. "Draco whatever it is you're trying to say, say it dammit!" snapped she.  
  
Draco looked hurt and somewhere inside Hermione regretted that she had snapped at him, when he was obviously having such a hard time pouring out his heart, or whatever, "Oh, why am I such a soft-hearted person," thought Hermione, annoyed at herself, she didn't want to pity him, not after all the suffering he had put her through.  
  
Draco looked back at her, directly into her big, brown eyes. Hermione waited for him to speak, and even though she told herself that she didn't care about why he was suddenly apologizing, she couldn't help, but to feel a bit curious.  
  
Draco looked like he was seriously considering his next words, but instead of opening his mouth and speak, he suddenly grabbed Hermione and pressed his lips against hers. Hermione was so surprised and shocked, she didn't know how to react, she couldn't think, she wanted to push him away, but couldn't, she just felt his lips against hers and they almost paralysed her.  
  
His kiss was like poison, running through her veins, taking over her body and her mind, she couldn't breathe, and finally she pushed Draco away.  
  
"What are you doing?" asked Hermione very frustrated.  
  
The hurt and insecure look on Draco's face had disappeared and had been replaced with his usual smirk.  
  
"You liked it," said Draco with his annoying voice.  
  
"I did NOT!" said Hermione, obviously lying.  
  
"Oh yes, you did! You kissed me back," said Draco.  
  
"No!" said Hermione, even though she knew that they both knew that she had loved it and had kissed him back, "Okay, so what if I did? You kissed me first!" said she. "Oh yeah, nice going Hermione, really nice! That wasn't lame at all," said a voice in her head.  
  
Draco laughed and Hermione knew he had been thinking the same thing.  
  
Draco walked over to the desk and leaned against it, Hermione could see that he took all the time he need to make Hermione uncomfortable by the awkward silence. Draco let his eyes rest on Hermione.  
  
"I always knew you wanted me," said Draco, smirking of course.  
  
"Excuse me," said Hermione, "I want you? Blasphemy! Honestly, who do you think you are? You make my life a hell, then you show up in my room, apologize and start kissing me and you say that I want you. Give me a break, like I can't see this is just another one of your filthy tricks. Do you think I'm blind or something? I won't take part in your evil games anymore! Now get out of my room, before I report you!" said Hermione angrily.  
  
Draco looked unaffected, and he walked over to her and stood right infront of her, "Can't say I'm surprised," he said and leaned forward and was now whispering into Hermione's ear, "you didn't deny wanting me," Draco smirked and placed a little kiss on Hermione's left cheek.  
  
Before Hermione could do or say anything, Draco was already under his Invisibility Cloak and had left the room.  
  
Hermione was left stunned, she had not expected that last part, she had thought Draco would have... well anything else, but what he did.  
  
There went several minutes before Hermione pulled herself together, she sat down on her bed and tried to concentrate on what just happened and on what she should do now, but her mind was a mess and she couldn't find any sense in anything, so she gave up.  
  
She went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water in her face, then she dried her face with a towel and when she looked up, into the big mirror hanging above the sink, she found that she couldn't look herself in the eyes. "What have I done?" she asked herself, "why have everything been going so wrong for me lately?".  
  
She gave up finding the answer. She considered skipping the rest of the day's classes, but then she thought that then she'd have to give Harry and Ron some kind of explanation, and she couldn't really think of anything good, and she thought it might be nice to have something to do, so she wouldn't have to deal with herself right now.  
  
Hermione kept to herself the rest of the day, she avoided Harry and Ron, and Malfoy by all causes, she just couldn't bare to face any of them right now, and she was relieved by the end of the day when she lay herself down to sleep.  
  
She lay silent in her bed, just staring out in the darkness. "What am I going to do? What am I going to do? Think, Hermione, think!" said a voice in her head. It was sort of ironic how she had always had all the answers ready, but this time she couldn't come up with any solution, after all this wasn't really a problem listed in the books.  
  
After hours of tossing and turning in her bed, Hermione's eyes finally closed and she began her journey into her sleep.  
  
It seemed like she had just closed her eyes when dawn sneaked into her room through the window. She opened her eyes slowly and yawned, for a minute she had forgotten all about yesterday and was ready to face a new day with a smile on her face, but then it all came back to her and a gloomy expression appeared on her face. Instead of getting out of bed, she felt more like just hiding under her blanket all day, but then she finally convinced herself that she couldn't hide in her room forever and then she got up.  
  
Hermione took off her the blue, cotton dress that she had slept in and got dressed in her Hogwarts robe, and got ready for the day. At breakfast she had her usual pumpkin juice and some cereal. She was sitting quietly eating her meal when her two best friends came laughing over to her.  
  
"Good morning Hermione," said Harry smiling, while Ron looked down, as if he had done something wrong., "'morning Hermione," he said.  
  
"Good morning guys," said Hermione and forced herself to smile.  
  
Harry sat down next to her, and Ron who had found some acceptation in her smile, but still felt a bit insecure sat next to Harry instead of sitting on Hermione's other side. The three of them were quite for a minute, but then the two guys started talking about the upcoming Quidditch game at the school, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Hermione, who didn't really care that much about Quidditch finished her breakfast quickly and left the guys and headed for the library.  
  
On her way to the library she was walking fast, looking at her feet when she suddenly bumped into a person and dropped all of the books she was carrying.  
  
"Hey," she said and bended down to pick up her books, but looked up when she heard a familiar voice.  
  
"Watch where you're going, Granger," said Draco with an evil little smirk, it was he she had bumped into.  
  
"Idiot," said Hermione under her breath while she watched Draco walk away.  
  
She collected her books and went to the library.  
  
While going throw some random books in the cold library she decided not to tell anyone about Draco's kiss, whether it was because of denial, believing that it would just go away by itself or if it was because she had actually liked it, but knew that it was a ridiculous, completely insane and disgusting thought to think that she might have a chance with him.  
  
At some point Hermione looked at her watch and realized that she was almost late for class, so she hurried through the dark halls and found her way to the Charms classroom.  
  
Professor Flitwick had just entered the room when she came in and she quickly found an empty seat.  
  
She felt like the hours went more slow than ever that day and she felt like she was walking around drowsy and isolated from everyone else in a bubble, but the bubble bursted when she, after lunch, on her way to the next class saw Professor Snape. He was in the other end of the hall, walking in her direction. Hermione who had forgotten all about the detention he had "promised" her the day before, now remembered it and found herself trying to come up with a plan to avoid him now, she could turn around and run, though then she'd be late for class and a student running would probably also catch his attention, so that wouldn't work.  
  
"Argh, think, think, think!" said Hermione nervously to herself, her heart was pounding faster, "okay, maybe he won't notice me if I just walk right by him, looking the other way," thought she, "yeah right, as if Hermione!".  
  
She decided to seek cover behind a couple of Gryffindor 3rd years nearby, but just before Snape passed by them, one of the 3rd years recognized Hermione.  
  
"Oh hi, Hermione," said a blond girl.  
  
Hermione frowned, but quickly put a fake smile on, "Hi," said she, trying to keep her voice down, hoping that Snape had not heard them. Too late.  
  
"Oh, so that's where you're hiding, Miss Granger," said the tall, dark professor.  
  
"I wasn't hiding," said Hermione way too fast and made it sound like that that was exactly what she had been doing.  
  
"I hope you didn't think that I had forgotten about your detention," said Professor Snape.  
  
"No sir, of course not," said Hermione politely, though that wasn't what she was thinking.  
  
At this point the 3rd years had left Hermione and she was now standing alone with the Professor in the hallway.  
  
"Hmm, right," said Snape nodding suspiciously, "dungeons, 3 o'clock. Today! Now go, you're late!" said Snape and left Hermione.  
  
"Well, so are you!" said Hermione quietly and then hurried to class.  
  
The rest of the classes that day also seemed to be a drag and Hermione had only just thrown herself down on her bed, when she remembered the detention. She hadn't even thought of what she'd be doing, but probably something hard and something that would take a long time, after all it was Snape's detention she was dealing with.  
  
She didn't have much time to get to the dungeons, so she hurried down the stairs, through the cold hallways and down to the slimy dungeons. She assumed he had meant the Potions classroom, so she went there and hesitated knocking on the door. She collected her thoughts and herself and then she knocked.  
  
"Enter," said a deep voice from the other side of the wooden door.  
  
Hermione entered carefully.  
  
"There you are, good, I thought I was about to waste my time on giving you extra detention for being late," said the Potions master.  
  
Hermione didn't answer, she just stood quietly and waiting for him to reveal her punishment. She knew he was enjoying this and he took his time, finishing going through the papers on his desk.  
  
Finally he looked up, "You'll be labelling potion-bottles," he said.  
  
Hermione was a bit surprised that he hadn't come up with something more mean, "ah well, that can't be that hard, I'll be done in no time," she thought to herself.  
  
"Of course, this is only what you'll be doing today. I have something else for tomorrow," continued Snape.  
  
"Oh yes, of course. I won't only be serving detention today, right, but for the rest of my life," thought Hermione and nodded.  
  
Snape made a gesture for her to look the way his arm was pointing, and Hermione looked. She saw eight desks covered with bottles in different colours.  
  
"Okay, that might slow me down a bit," thought she.  
  
"These will be the bottles you'll be labelling. There is a list of which colour is what. I won't be here to keep an eye on you, I have better and more important things to do," said the Professor, "oh yes, and you'll be serving today's detention with a student of mine, who's being punished for roaming the hallways after dark," said Snape pointing at someone behind Hermione.  
  
Hermione turned around and saw that her new detention partner was the blond junior Malfoy.  
  
"Hello Granger," said Draco smirking.  
---------------------------------------------------  
  
Hmm, seems like Draco is definitely up to something, huh? So, what do you think? Please review.


	4. Falling Apart

**Disclaimer:** I do not own these characters, they belong to J.K Rowling. I only own the plot.  
  
**A/N:** Thank you so much for all you reviews, I truly appreciate them.  
  
**Chapter Four – Falling Apart**  
  
"Hello Granger," said Draco smirking.  
  
"Oh dear lord," thought Hermione.  
  
"Hi Draco," said Hermione just trying to be polite before Snape might think of some stupid comment if she didn't greet Draco properly. Though she knew how much Snape was enjoying making her spend detention with the trios most annoying enemy Draco.  
  
"Now, get this done fast and make sure you put the right labels on the right bottles, wouldn't want some 1st year blowing his friends up, would we?" said the Professor adopting Draco's smirk, and then he left the room, slamming the door just hard enough to make Hermione shiver.  
  
A strange noise came from behind Hermione and made her turn around, at first she wasn't sure what it was, but then she realized that it was Draco who made that sound. He was laughing.  
  
"Excuse me, but what is it you find so funny?" said Hermione strangely annoyed by his laugh.  
  
"I was just thinking about how funny it is that while I'll be sitting over there," he pointed at a chair near the small window, "you'll be serving the detention you deserve."  
  
Hermione looked at him with a disapproving look and took a deep breath.  
  
"What?" she said as calmly as she could, though she already felt like slapping him just for being in the same room as her.  
  
"You heard me, and I'm pretty sure that a geek like you understood it too, or perhaps I am mistaking, maybe your brain has gotten infected with your dirty blood and stopped working, huh?" said Draco cocky, with a smirk and then shrugged.  
  
Hermione felt the rage boil inside of her. 'Who the hell does he think he is? How dare he? Especially after he apologized, not that I have forgiven him, but he kissed me,' thought Hermione and realized that she had thought he had meant the kiss and that he actually liked her, 'Oh, how stupid am I? I can't believe this..' Hermione's thought-train was broken off, before she had even had time to think of something to say back to him, but now he was laughing again.  
  
"Ah, don't worry Granger, I'm just kidding," said Draco and looked self- assured.  
  
"Weird sense of humor you have," said Hermione and felt a bit calmer inside now, "but honestly, I don't have time for your little witty remarks, let's just get to work now, if you take those four tables, then I take the other four."  
  
"Err, Granger, I wasn't kidding about that," said Draco, "I _will_ be sitting over there while you'll do the work."  
  
Hermione was just about to punch him, but then Draco smiled at her and she realized that it was just another silly joke.  
  
They went to work and were both quiet for a while. Hermione couldn't help, but to glance over at Draco regularly. He worked fast and looked like he had everything under control. Once in a while a blond tuft of hair would fall in his eyes and he would with smooth movement put it back in place. It was weird to see this other version of Draco than she was used to. Even though, he had been annoying her from the moment he entered the room, he still seemed different to her, a bit more relaxed, he had even been able to smile at her, not just his usual smirk, but a real smile.  
  
"So are you done yet?" said Draco suddenly.  
  
Hermione's heart beat faster. Had he seen her watching him?  
  
"Err.. hmm.. What do you mean?" said Hermione and felt her cheeks becoming a light shade of pink.  
  
"With the bottles! What else?" said Draco and looked at with a wondering expression.  
  
"Oh yeah, right. Yes, I am.." said Hermione, but noticed she was only at her third table, "not."  
  
"Only what you could expect," said Draco, "well, then I'll just finish your last table."  
  
Hermione gaped at Draco, who was now helping Hermione with her bottles. 'That boy just keeps surprising me,' thought Hermione and smiled to herself.  
  
Soon they were finished and Hermione looked at Draco.  
  
"Thank you," she said and for the first time, ever, she smiled genuinely at Draco.  
  
"You're welcome, but don't get used to it," said Draco and winked, and then he left the dungeon and Hermione, who was speechless because of the way Draco had acted. She too left the dungeon and made her way back to the Gryffindor common room. There weren't many students roaming the halls now, so Hermione gave into all the thoughts screaming in her head. 'There was definitely something different about Draco today," she thought, 'he seemed so...so nice and civilized, I've never seen him this way. Did somebody cast a spell on him?' thought Hermione and laughed to herself, she couldn't help, but to notice that Draco's name was present in her thoughts all the time, and she wasn't disgusted, instead she felt... she felt like she had met a whole new Draco and she liked him. 'I can't believe this!' thought Hermione, 'what is wrong with me? Draco is NOT a nice person and he is not interested in you!' Hermione told herself and tried to convince herself that it was true, 'though it did seem kind of...odd, that Draco got detention for something so stupid as roaming the halls after dark. Maybe he just did that to be with me,' thought she smiling, but then the smile faded, 'or maybe you're just completely delusional and should be locked up in some mental institution, for being so silly and ridiculous to think that Draco is interested in you, you're everything he despises,' she thought and shook her head and opened the door to her room.  
  
She threw herself on the bed, 'Geez, this is screwed up,' she thought and heard someone knocking on her door.  
  
She got up and walked to the door, opened it and saw Harry and Ron outside.  
  
"Oh, it's you. Hi guys," said Hermione and put on a little smile.  
  
"Hi Hermione, we were just heading towards the Great Hall and thought you'd might come down and have dinner with us," said Harry and smiled.  
  
Hermione who couldn't resist Harry's charming smile, said yes and the three of them went down to have dinner.  
  
"So where have you been all day?" asked Ron.  
  
"Yeah, we went looking for you in the library, but we couldn't find you anywhere," added Harry.  
  
"Oh well, I was in the dungeons," said Hermione. The boys looked at her with wondering, strange expressions, "you know, serving the detention I so bravely earned myself yesterday," continued Hermione with irony.  
  
"Oh!" said the boys at the same time.  
  
"So what annoyingly evil punishment had Snape thought of this time?" asked Harry.  
  
"Well, we.. erm.. I labeled potion bottles," answered Hermione with a vain expression.  
  
Ron broke out in laugh and Harry too, a few seconds after.  
  
"Seriously?" laughed Harry.  
  
"Snape has done some seriously slacking off with the whole evil ways to torture students!" laughed Ron.  
  
Hermione didn't really know how to act, so she just laughed along for a while, but then she felt a feeling of agony growing inside of her.  
  
"Well, if it helps, then I have to do detention tomorrow too, and probably for the rest of the semester," said Hermione seriously.  
  
The two boys stopped with the laughing and a guilty look appeared on their faces. They looked at Hermione for a while, to see if they could read what she felt, but then gave up and started talking about something Hermione didn't pay any attention to, because she just noticed that a certain person had just entered the Great Hall and now her eyes dwelled on him, just like they had done when he had been working with her not long ago, but here she could watch him from afar and he wouldn't notice her.  
  
She watched how Draco so elegantly walked to his seat, the way his lips moved when he spoke, the way he blinked.. 'Whoa, wake up Pansy! What is wrong with you,' thought Hermione and immediately looked down at her plate, 'I seriously need to get a grip.'  
  
"What do you think Hermione?" asked Ron suddenly and awoke Hermione from her own world.  
  
"Err, what? Sorry, I was just thinking...about some.. homework," lied Hermione.  
  
"Err.. yeah, okay, but what do you think? I mean, Harry is doubting our victory in the match against Slytherin next Saturday, would you believe that?" said Ron and then turned his attention to Harry, "Of course we're gonna win, mate!"  
  
"Yeah sure," said Hermione and nodded like she cared. 'Gosh, do they ever think about something else besides Quidditch?' thought she. The boys' talk continued on the subject of Quidditch, 'Apparently not,' thought she, and let her eyes glance over at Draco once more, she saw Pansy Parkinson all over Draco, but Draco didn't seem to care, well he talked with her, but Hermione noticed something in his eyes that told her that his mind was elsewhere and for a second Hermione was sure that he had glanced over at her too. Hermione was now done with her dinner and stood.  
  
"I'll see you later guys," she said to the boys and then left them without giving them a chance to answer.  
  
Hermione went back to her room and sat on the bed, just staring at the wall. She sat like that for a while, and then she got ready for the night and went to bed. She realized that she hadn't done any of her homework for tomorrow, honestly she hadn't had the time for it and now she was too drained and depressed to do it, so instead she let the heaviness of her tiredness take over her and her eyes closed and she entered the land of dreams.  
  
Next morning on her way to the Great Hall she ran into Ron. He looked more tired than usual, the area around his eyes were noticeable darker.  
  
"Ron, is something wrong?" she asked.  
  
"That's interesting, I wanted to ask you the same thing," he answered without any expression, just a cold look in his eyes.  
  
Hermione looked away, but then pulled herself together and looked him directly in the eyes.  
  
"What makes you think there's something wrong?" she answered just as cold as his eyes.  
  
"Seems to me that you've been avoiding me and Harry the last couple of days, well mostly me," he said and his eyes changed from cold to a searching and desperate look.  
  
"Well, I... I've just been really busy, you know, homework and detention and stuff," answered Hermione.  
  
"So everything is cool? Also between the two of us?" asked Ron bravely.  
  
"Yeah, definitely. Everything's fine," lied Hermione, she felt that things had definitely changed.  
  
"Okay, then I'll see you later," said Ron smiling.  
  
"Sure," said Hermione and managed to force a little smile on. Ron turned and walked in the opposite direction of the Great Hall, "Hey, wait! Where are you going? Breakfast the other way Ron!" called Hermione. "I'm going to Quidditch practice, gotta be ready to take the snakes down on Saturday," he said smiling.  
  
"In your dreams Weasley!" said a voice from behind Hermione that shocked her and she started. She turned around and a well-known figure stepped out of the shadows.  
  
"Malfoy, what are you doing here?" said Ron angrily and walked towards him.  
  
"I don't see why that's any of your business," said Draco and sneered.  
  
"Well it is!" snapped Ron, "why don't you just go back to your dungeons where you belong?"  
  
"Don't worry, I'm not planning on staying in this area for long, wouldn't want to get infected by the same air that you breathe," said Draco contemptuously.  
  
Ron looked like he was about to punch Malfoy right in the face, so Hermione quickly got in between them.  
  
"Boys! Please behave, or you'll get us all into trouble! Now, I can't believe you're both too immature to even be in the same room together without mocking each other! Now, stop it!" Hermione said raising her voice threateningly, and then walked away towards the Great Hall, and left the boys gaping and staring after her.  
  
Hermione went into the Great Hall and got her breakfast. She sat quietly while she ate, and thought about what she had just done. She felt good about it. 'I am just so sick of all the mocking and torture, and the endless drag of it! Good thing, I yelled at them, maybe now they'll try and behave themselves like young adults...' thought she and then sighed, 'Geez, I sound like my mother... But why can't we just get along, it would make it so much easier,' thought she. She decided to not think about that now and instead she wanted this to be a good day, and by the end of her breakfast, she was in a really good mood and she was even humming a on her way to class.  
  
Hermione's classes went easily, and even though she hadn't studied she still managed to have the answers for the questions she was asked. Around two o'clock she had some time off before she had to go to the dungeons to serve detention, well actually Snape hadn't said anything about where and what time her detention would be today, but Hermione just assumed that it would in the dungeons and same time as the previous day.  
  
She went to the library in her time off. She sat quietly and read in her Transfiguration book when someone suddenly stood infront of her on the other side of the table, blocking the sunlight coming through the window. Hermione looked up and saw her stalker, Draco.  
  
"Draco? What are you doing here?" asked Hermione surprised, and observed Draco as he walked around the table and stopped when he was right behind her. Hermione started when he put his hands on her shoulders.  
  
"Easy now," said Draco, as he gently removed her brown hair from her shoulders. He let his finger touch the skin of her neck. Hermione froze. He ran his finger along her neck. Hermione felt her heart beating faster and her hands trembling. "Draco, what are you doing?" said Hermione insecurely, and felt how he let both his hands rest on her shoulders again. Suddenly she could feel the warmth of his breath on her skin. He held his face right next to her ear and in a soft whisper he said, "I just came to tell that I will not be able to spend detention with you today 'cause I have other plans. I know you must be heartbroken now, but don't worry Granger, I'll schedule another..." he hesitated, then said, "..date, so we can spend some quality time together."  
  
He was gone before Hermione could respond in any way, so she sat quietly and stared into the air, but was interrupted when someone suddenly slammed his hands in the table.  
  
"What did _he_ want?" said Ron angrily.   
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So what do you think? Did you like it? Not? Please review.  
  
Chapter Five won't be up until around the beginning of July.


	5. You don't have a choice

**Disclaimer:** I do not own these characters, they belong to J.K Rowling. I only own the plot.  
  
**A/N:** First of all, a huge thank you to all my reviewers. I'm really glad that you like my story and that you took time to review it hugs to all of you Second of all, yes I know that I said this chapter wouldn't be up until the beginning of July, but fortunately I've had time to write this chapter during my exam period bad me lol, anyway, I hope you like it and chapter six will soon be done, so err, enjoy : )  
  
**Chapter Five – You don't have a choice  
**  
Terrified Hermione looked up and saw Ron's eyes burning with rage, she was frightened, she had never seen him like this.  
  
"I-I.." stuttered Hermione and tried to avoid Ron's judging eyes.  
  
"I can't believe this Hermione! How could you? After all that he has.." said Ron frustrated, but was interrupted by Hermione.  
  
"NO, Ron! It's not what you think!" insisted Hermione and stood.  
  
"Do you think I'm blind? That I can't see what's going on? Or maybe I'm just too stupid to understand in your eyes, is that it?" said Ron.  
  
"No, you know that's not it! ...He was just being cocky as usual, an-and insulting me," said Hermione.  
  
"Oh give me a break! We both know that_ that_ did not look like hostility! Don't lie to me, Hermione, and don't think I don't know that he was with you in detention yesterday!" said Ron and Hermione looked surprised, "Yes, people do actually talk on this school and rumour has that you two were together and now he's all over you. I can't believe you would do this to me," continued Ron with a lot of show.  
  
"But that wasn't my fault, yesterday. What? You think I had planned for him to be there with me, like you said: after all he has done to us? There's nothing going on between Malfoy and me! How can you even think that I would be with him. He has just developed some disturbing stalker tendencies lately," said Hermione convincingly.  
  
"Oh well, that clears everything up, then I'll just go and finish him up right now!" said Ron defensively.  
  
"No! Ron, you know that's not the right way to do it! Then he'll just get what he wants: you into trouble, you know he's just playing with us," said Hermione desperately trying to reason with Ron.  
  
"Is he? Or are you just playing with me?" said Ron, then turned around and quickly walked away.  
  
"No! I'm not!" called Hermione after him.  
  
She sat back down when Ron was out of her sight, then buried her face in her hands and gave into her tears. The pressure of the events of the last couple of days overwhelmed her and she didn't try to fight it. She sat like that for a while. She was almost alone in the library, there were only a few younger students there, but they didn't pay any attention to her, though they had been very curious before, about the fight. Suddenly Madam Pince appeared from behind one of the many bookcases in the library, she on the other hand did pay attention to Hermione.  
  
"Are you okay, dear? Is something wrong?" she asked kindly and gave Hermione's left shoulder a little squeeze.  
  
Hermione, who had not seen her approach, started and then quickly dried her tears and got up in a rush.  
  
"No, I'm fine, thanks," said Hermione a bit bewildered, while collecting her books, and then she left the library as fast as she could, in fear that Pince might ask more questions about her obvious state of mind.  
  
When Hermione was finally out in the empty corridor, she took a minute to fix her clothes and pull herself together, 'Okay Hermione, everything is fine, you don't have time to have a nervous breakdown now. Get a grip now, you have to go to..' thought Hermione and then unpleasantly remembered that she had to go to detention now, '..the dungeons, oh crap, I'm so not in the mood for Snape's ugly face right now! But I can absolutely not skip detention now, nor ever for that matter, just gotta get through it Hermione and you better hurry or you'll be late,' thought she and took a deep breath and then headed towards the dungeons.  
  
She found the door to the classroom wide open and she entered the room very cautiously and a bit insecure. "Hello? Professor Snape, are you there?" she said in a shaky voice, she never did like the dungeons, especially not when she was alone down there.  
  
Suddenly a deep voice from outside the room said, "Oh, there you are Miss Granger, at last."  
  
Hermione started and turned around and saw Professor Snape standing in the doorway, 'What does he mean 'at last'? He's the one not giving out the exact information, stupid little potions master,' thought Hermione and said, "Oh hello Professor."  
  
The Professor just stared at her with his dark, cold eyes, then he turned and walked down the hallway, "Follow me, miss Granger," he said.  
  
Hermione hurried after him. He walked fast and she tried to keep up, just a few steps behind him, keeping her distance. He lead her up the stairs and kept her wondering about where they were going, but Hermione couldn't keep her mouth shut, she had automatically thought she'd be doing some stuff in the dungeons, but obviously she wasn't and she wanted to know where they were going.  
  
"Where are we going?" asked Hermione.  
  
"You'll see," answered Snape without even glancing back at Hermione.  
  
Cheeky Hermione shook her head and made upturned eyes at his annoying reply. Hermione followed his lead until he stopped, so suddenly that Hermione almost walked right into him, but fortunately she stopped just in time for him to step aside and hold a door open for her. Just now Hermione realized that it was the girls' bathroom that he had lead her to.  
  
She entered the bathroom, turned around and faced Snape, she had a very good idea about what he'd probably want her to do.  
  
"The original plan was that you should have swept the court, but apparently Mother Nature is against my will," said Professor Snape bitterly, "but this will do," he smirked, "you'll be cleaning this bathroom: floor, toilets, sinks, everything, without magic, of course, but a 'know-it-all' like you'd probably already figured that out," he said and raised an eyebrow, "have fun and I'll see you tomorrow Miss Granger," he finished, left the room and closed the door.  
  
Hermione stood in the middle of the bathroom and looked at the dirty and dusty floor, the filthy sinks and of course the toilets. As she stood there a feeling of complete hopelessness and loneliness overwhelmed her and she fell to her knees and bursted into tears. A million thoughts ran through her mind, then she abruptly heard a sobbing noise which she first thought she made, but then she remembered that this was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Hermione looked up when her tears had faded a little, she saw Moaning Myrtle by the window in the other end of the room, crying as always. Hermione also noticed the rain falling from the dark sky on the other side of the window. Myrtle looked at her, then the ghost floated towards Hermione, and in a shrilly voice she said, "Have you come to share the tears of solitude with me?".  
  
Hermione smiled, "No Myrtle, I've come to clean this place."  
  
"But why? No one ever comes in here. Only me, all alone, forever and ever, for all eternity, why would anyone even think about cleaning my pathetic little home?" said Myrtle, and Hermione laughed.  
  
"Yes, I know, but Professor Snape has decided to make this my punishment for just saying the obvious truth," said Hermione.  
  
"Ugh, Snape? He's that nasty one, isn't he?" said Myrtle and Hermione nodded in definite agreement.  
  
"Was that why you were crying before?" asked Myrtle interested.  
  
"No, that wasn't the reason," said Hermione and looked down.  
  
"But then why?" asked Myrtle eagerly.  
  
Hermione hesitated and then she confessed everything to Moaning Myrtle, who listened patiently.  
  
"Hmm.. at least boys are interested in you. They never cared for me, only when they needed someone to pick on," said Myrtle bitterly, "but I guess you should be working now," reminded Myrtle.  
  
"Oh yes! I've talking for way too long, but thanks for listening," said Hermione with a little smile and then watched Myrtle float away.  
  
'Oh dear, this is gonna take forever! I'll never be finished today,' thought Hermione and felt all hopeless again, 'And did he say 'have fun'? Which part of this is supposed to be fun? Stupid idiot! And he'll probably make me clean the boys bathroom tomorrow, or well, probably not, he'll make me sweep the court,' thought Hermione and felt drained from all possible strength she might have left in her body,  
  
She got to work and finally, after many hours of hard work, she was finished. She stood for a second and enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment before she left the bathroom. 'It must be way past dinner-time,' thought Hermione, 'oh well, I wasn't hungry anyway.'  
  
She went through the cold hallways only lighted by the glowing candles. For a second she thought she heard footsteps behind her, but she convinced herself that it was just her imagination running loose, 'Calm down Hermione, there's nothing scary about this cold, dark, creepy castle on a rainy night, everything is fine.' Then she heard footsteps again and she quickly turned around to see if anyone was behind her, but no one was there, so she turned back around and found herself facing Draco, "Argh!" she screamed, Draco laughed his stupid little self-assured laugh.  
  
"Oh did I scare you, Granger?" he said.  
  
"Yes, as a matter of fact, you did," answered Hermione unwillingly.  
  
"Well, I certainly didn't mean to," said Draco ironically and when Hermione just looked at him with cold eyes, he said, "Hmm, so I hear there's a bit of a tiff between you and the moron?"  
  
"Oh just go away, Malfoy!" said Hermione and walked by him, just striking his one shoulder. Then in a matter of no time Malfoy had grabbed Hermione's one wrist and now held her against the cold wall.  
  
"Let go of me!" demanded Hermione and tried to break free of his grip, but couldn't, because the more she fought against him the more he tightened his grip.  
  
"There's no use in fighting me, Granger, I always get what I want," said Draco intensely.  
  
"Look, I'm not in the mood for your stupid games Malfoy! I'm exhausted, 'cause I've just spent hours in the girls' bathroom, cleaning! Oh and by the way, if I remember correctly then you said you had other plans and that you wouldn't show!" said Hermione resentfully.  
  
"Well, I rescheduled my timetable, just for you," said Draco and smirked.  
  
"Oooh, thanks a lot. Now I'm forever in your debt," said Hermione and rolled her eyes.  
  
"Now, don't be so saucy," said Draco. Hermione looked unimpressed.  
  
"Oh Draco, why are you here?" she asked wearily.  
  
"Aww, now I know you're tired and probably just wanna get in bed," he smirked and Hermione thought she was going to throw up, then he continued, "but I thought I'd just let you know that I'm taking you...out on Saturday after the Quidditch game, so we can celebrate my victory," said Draco very secure of himself.  
  
"What? Who do you think you are? I'm with Ron! And even if I weren't, then I still wouldn't go out with you!" said Hermione and Draco laughed.  
  
"Now Granger, you don't really have a choice!" said Draco and tightened his grip around her wrist even more.  
  
"Av! Just let me go!" insisted Hermione, but then Draco put his other hand on Hermione's thigh and let it find its way under her robe, and then the way to her loin, then he pulled her closer and held her tight so she couldn't possibly break free. Hermione admitted to herself, that even though she was drained, still admired Draco's passionate way of showing his feelings, well except for his grip around her wrist. He leaned forward, as if he wanted to kiss her, again, but just as their lips were about to meet he turned left and whispered into her ear.  
  
"Say: please!" said he. Hermione gathered all her strength and pushed Draco, but he was too strong for her and she realized that if she wanted to get any sleep tonight, then the only way out of this would be to obey him. "Please?" she said.  
  
"Good girl," he said and then he finally let her go, but not without smirking first.  
  
She left Malfoy in a rush and hurried to her room, as fast as she could. She hurried inside and locked the door. 'Finally,' she thought relieved. She quickly changed and brushed her teeth. Then she threw herself on the four poster bed and buried herself in the duvet and the blankets. She felt the soft cotton against her skin and she loved it. 'Oh I must be in heaven. It's gonna be great with a good night's sleep after so many hours of toil,' she thought, but she had just closed her eyes, when a loud peal of thunder echoed through the castle and made her start. A few seconds after, her room was lighted by a lightening outside. "I guess it's gonna be a rough night," said she to Crookshanks, who had just placed himself comfortably next to Hermione in the bed. She lied back down and petted Crookshanks. She let her head rest on the pillow and listened to the rain pouring down outside, and she couldn't help, but to admit that even though she was really tired and really wanted to go to sleep, she still loved the sound of the rain, and if it had been just the rain, then she might have been able to fall asleep, but the thunder and the lightening kept her awake and she was haunted by her own conscience.  
  
'Blimey, Draco has changed. I don't understand him, he's different. One minute, he's just mean and the next minute he's almost nice, and then there's the physical contact of course,' Hermione shivered, 'Should I go with him on Saturday? Ron doesn't have to know, he would just freak, no Ron can never know nor about the kiss,' concluded she, and a couple of hours later the storm died down and Hermione finally fell asleep.

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As I said before, I hope you liked it. Please review.


	6. Whose side are you on?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own these characters, they belong to the brilliant J.K Rowling. I might have come up with the plot, but I do not intend to make money on it.  
  
**A/N:** First of all, sorry I haven't posted this as soon as I wanted blames her lack of muse  
Second, Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all your reviews! It's such a pleasure to read them and I really appreciate all of them! 3

**Chapter Six – Whose side are you on?**  
  
Hermione woke up next morning at dawn and it seemed that she had just closed her eyes. She felt exhausted, like every muscle of her body had been beaten, but she felt a particular pain in her wrist, she looked at it and saw a dark bruise, 'That bastard!' she thought and cursed Draco (not literally). Now she'd have to be careful, she couldn't let anyone see that bruise, too many questions.  
  
"Oh Crookshanks, can't we just stay in bed all day? I'm too tired to get up," said Hermione to the cat, who on the other hand had been able to get a lot of sleep, since he had fallen asleep a long time before Hermione and now he stretched himself and yawned rested, "you lucky cat!" she said while petting him.  
  
Hermione pulled herself together and got out of bed. She dragged herself to the bathroom where she looked herself in the mirror while brushing her teeth, 'Holy cow! I look like a ghost, argh! This is what too little sleep does to you, now I'm all pale and ugly,' thought she and pouted. She splashed some cold water in her face, just to wake her up completely. 'I seriously need to get some sleep, maybe today after...oh crap, I have detention,' thought she, 'maybe if I poison Snape's breakfast then he'll...oh who am I kidding? This just sucks big time!'  
  
When she was all dressed in her Hogwarts robe and as ready as she could get to face a new day, she went down to breakfast. She filled her plate with loads of different fruits and some bread, but then she discovered that she didn't feel hungry at all. In the mean time Harry and Ron had entered the Great Hall and instead of taking their usual seats next to Hermione, they had walked right by her. Apparently Ron had convinced Harry to freeze her out, 'Argh, I'll have to deal with that later,' thought Hermione and finished her breakfast.  
  
When she was done she went to class, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall.  
  
"Today we are going to work on turning flowers into stone and back again to flowers," said Professor McGonagall after she had entered the classroom, "Miss Granger, why don't you start?" asked she and looked at Hermione.  
  
Hermione didn't hear the Professor, she sat looking down in her book and was half asleep.  
  
"Miss Granger, are you with us?" asked McGonagall and Hermione looked up and realized, when she saw the Professor's gaze aimed at her, that her absence of mind had been noticed.  
  
"Erm, yes I'm here," said Hermione a bit dazed and she heard a few giggles from behind her, but she was unable to clarify who they came from.  
  
The Professor let Hermione be and picked another student, and Hermione sighed, 'Oh how embarrassing!' thought she and was invisible for the rest of the class.  
  
When the class was finally over and Hermione had remained invisible and silent, she left the classroom in a hurry. Even in the next couple of classes she kept to herself and didn't attract any attention to herself. At last it was time for lunch and Hermione, who actually felt hungry for the first time in a couple of days, hurried through the corridors to the Great Hall.  
  
She found her seat in the Great Hall and filled her plate. No sign of Harry and Ron yet. 'Probably skipping lunch to practice Quidditch,' Hermione thought. When she was done and on her way out of the Great Hall, she suddenly heard her name.  
  
"Miss Granger, can I talk to you for a second?"  
  
Hermione turned around and saw that it was Professor McGonagall who was talking to her. Hermione smiled slightly and nodded. The Professor gestured for Hermione to step outside and into the corridor. Hermione was wondering about what on earth she wanted to talk to her about.  
  
"Actually I am not the one who wants to talk to you," said McGonagall and smiled kindly at Hermione, "Headmaster Dumbledore is the one who wants to see you in his office."  
  
"See me? But why?" asked Hermione curiously.  
  
"You'll find out," answered Professor McGonagall, and then lead Hermione to the entrance to Dumbledore's office.  
  
Soon Hermione found herself in the headmaster's office. The bookshelves piled up infront of her, as she entered, and pictures looked curiously at her.  
  
"Erm, headmaster, are you there?" said Hermione and took a step forward, now she noticed the headmaster sitting in an armchair on her right.  
  
"Hello Miss Granger," said he and looked up, smiling, "welcome."  
  
"Eh, thanks," said Hermione and smiled back. Dumbledore continued to let his blue eyes rest on her and said nothing.  
  
"I was told that you wanted to see me, sir," said Hermione when she couldn't endure the silence any longer.  
  
"Oh, that's right, well come on and sit down. I want to talk to you about something," he said and conjured a chair for her. Hermione sat down and looked the headmaster.  
  
"Well, you see, quite a few of your teachers have come to me, because they are worried about you," said Dumbledore.  
  
"Worried? About me? Why?" asked Hermione surprised.  
  
"They have noticed a certain change in your behavior lately. You haven't seem to be yourself. Madam Pince mentioned an episode in the library and a few of your other teachers have noticed that you haven't been quite as active in class as usual. Now, it is my responsibility that all the students are comfortable and happy to a certain extent on this school, so of course, I wanted to consult this with you," explained the headmaster in a warm voice.  
  
Hermione started to feel a bit uncomfortable, of course her change of mood hadn't gone by unnoticed, but she'd never expected any of her teachers to react in this way nor having to discuss it with the headmaster himself. 'Surely he must have something better to do that talk about my silly teenage problems,' thought Hermione.  
  
"I will not force you to talk about this if you won't, but do know that if there's anything wrong, then the staff and I will do all in our power to help," said Dumbledore and smiled.  
  
'What on earth is he talking about? No one can help me," thought Hermione, then she decided that she might have to explain a bit.  
  
"Well, I've just have a few bad days, you know, haven't slept that well because of the storm and then with detention and homework, it's just been a lot to deal with," said Hermione knowing she was only telling half of the truth.  
  
"Ah, I see," said the headmaster with understanding, "Well then, perhaps you should relax some this afternoon, perhaps even take a nap," said he and laughed.  
  
Hermione smiled and thought that that was an excellent idea, but then she remembered her detention.  
  
"Yeah, that is a very good idea, but I have detention today, so –  
  
The headmaster broke her off, "Not to worry dear, I've spoken to Severus and we came to the agreement that your detention is over, after all it was not such a bad thing you did," said Dumbledore and winked at Hermione. She smiled and was relived and slightly amused. 'Came to the agreement.. yeah right!' thought Hermione.  
  
"Oh thank you, sir," she said.  
  
"Now now, you should better get to class, otherwise you'll be more late than you already are," said Dumbledore.  
  
Hermione got up and said goodbye quickly, then she hurried through the corridors and down to the cold dungeons. When she reached the classroom, she opened the door very cautiously and tried to sneak in as unnoticed as possible.  
  
She was relieved when she saw that Professor Snape was writing something on the blackboard and therefore did not see her enter. She sat down on the only empty seat left, right infront of a certain Mr. Malfoy, but Hermione didn't quite worry about him right now, she was more concerned about what evil comment Snape might say when he saw her.  
  
"Ah, so Miss Granger decided to show up today, how kind of you," said Professor Snape sarcastically as he turned around and sneered. Hermione flushed, but didn't reply and surprisingly enough, Snape left it by that and continued his lecture.  
  
Hermione sat for a while and listened, but was then interrupted by someone who tapped her on the shoulder. She slowly turned her head and saw that the blond Malfoy heir was trying to get her attention.  
  
"What?" she snapped in a whisper.  
  
"Shh, Granger, when we win tomorrow, then meet me in the library two hours after the Quidditch match," whispered Draco.  
  
"What if you don't win?" asked Hermione and couldn't help but to smirk a little.  
  
"Don't worry Granger, we will," whispered Draco back, and he on the other hand didn't try to control the smirk that seemed to be stuck on his face.  
  
"Mr. Malfoy, miss Granger, is this something you would like to share with the rest of us?" said Snape.  
  
"Yes, Professor. Potter is throwing paper pellets at me," lied Draco and watched Harry turn in shock.  
  
"Professor, sir, that is not true, I didn't do anything," said Potter.  
  
"Is that so? Then why do I see paper pellets on Mr. Malfoy's table?" said Snape and raised an eyebrow while pointing at the paper pellets Draco's table, obviously planted there by Draco himself, "That'll be five points from Gryffindor," said Snape and smirked. The Slytherins giggled. The Gryffindors didn't, especially not Harry.  
  
Hermione hadn't paid fully attention to what had just happened, she had been wondering about Draco's 'invitation'. She didn't quite understand why Draco had been showing so much interest in her lately, when he had been her, and her friends', enemy for so many years.  
  
Potions class was soon over and Hermione headed back to the Gryffindors' common room, normally she would have walked with Ron and Harry, but apparently they were still insisting on not wanting to have anything to do with her.  
  
Instead of hanging out in the common room with her fellow Gryffindors, she went straight to her own room. The thought of taking a nap was very tempting, and soon after Hermione had laid herself down on the bed, she had fallen asleep. She didn't wake up before dinnertime.  
  
"Gosh, I've slept for so long," she said to herself, "but I definitely needed it too," she said and smiled. She freshened herself up for dinner and then left her room. On her way down the stairs to the common room, she heard a pair of familiar voices. She stopped and listened.  
  
"But why is she suddenly always around that foul bloke, Harry? I don't understand! Did you see how they were whispering in class?" said Ron.  
  
"Look, it's probably just a coincidence that you saw them together in the library, and he was probably just insulting her, today in class too," she heard Harry answer.  
  
"Whatever, I won't have that slime ball touch my girl," said Ron, and then the voices faded and Hermione heard no more of the conversation and she realized that they had left the common room. She stood for a second until she was sure the coast was clear and then she headed to the Great Hall for dinner.  
  
Hermione woke up the next morning, Saturday morning, and felt well rested and a bit happier. Today was the day where the Quidditch match against Slytherin would take place, and it was also the day where Hermione was supposed to meet Draco Malfoy for a date after the match.  
  
Hours after Hermione had awoken, after hours of studying, she got ready to go see the match. When she reached the Quidditch pit, she heard a familiar voice behind her.  
  
"Didn't expect to see you here today," said Ron. Hermione turned around and looked at him with a wondering expression.  
  
"What do you mean? Of course I'm here. I'm always here to cheer," said she with a little smile because of the rhyming. She hoped it would break the ice.  
  
"Yeah, but whose side are you on today?" said Ron seriously and sneered. Then he turned around and walked away, leaving Hermione to herself. She was a tad insulted by his harsh words. Of course she was on Gryffindor's side, wasn't she?  
  
Soon the game had started and Hermione watched the players fly high above her. Her eyes wandered from Harry and Ron to Draco. She noticed how good Draco actually was at flying.  
  
"Slytherins scores! The makes it 30-20 to Slytherin," she heard the commentator say.  
  
Suddenly something unexpected happened. Draco flew straight towards the ground, Harry soon by his side, then Draco suddenly pulled up and Harry continued towards the ground and only pulled up just in time before it was too late. This gave Draco a chance to get ahead and catch the snitch. Draco had feinted Harry, he had only pretended to see the snitch.  
  
"Draco Malfoy has caught the snitch. Slytherin wins!" yelled the commentator. The Slytherin crowd went crazy, jumping and screaming, all smiling. The Gryffindors booed. Hermione remained passive. She felt weird. Slytherin had won and she was going to meet Malfoy later. Of course she could just not show up, 'Tempting,' thought she, but knew deep down that she would go and meet him.  
------------------------

I hoped you liked this chapter. Please review. Next we'll find out how Hermione's little date goes :)


	7. The Room of Requirement

**Disclaimer: **I do not own these characters, they belong to the brilliant J.K Rowling.

**Warning:** I suppose it would be about time that the story lives up to its **R** rating, so I should probably **warn you**: This chapter features a **sex** scence"

**A/N:** **I am terribly sorry and ashamed** that I haven't updated this story before now. I hope you can forgive me and that you'll still read and review this chapter. Speaking of reviewing, thank you so much for all your reviews!

**Chapter Seven – The Room of Requirement**

'I can't believe they won,' thought Hermione while watching her appearance in the mirror infront of her. She had decided she was going to wear a black skirt and a red, long sleeved blouse for her little date with Draco.

She found herself making an extra effort to look good. She wasn't quite sure why, it wasn't like she wanted to look good for _him_. It wasn't like she actually cared about what _he_ thought of her. Right.

When it came to her hair, she used a spell to make it curl nicely. At last she stood infront of the mirror and felt quite satisfied with the result. "Makes you want to make an extra effort more often," muttered she to herself and smiled.

She was starting to feel butterflies in her stomach, because she wasn't quite sure what exactly was going to happen with Draco or why he had even bothered to 'ask' her out, well it wasn't like he actually _asked_ her out, more like told her to show up, well forced her actually.

"I'm really going to go through with this, aren't I?" she said to herself on her way down the corridors to the library. A little voice inside her reminded her of how Ron would react if he found out about what she was about to do, but Hermione simply ignored that voice. 'He's not going to find out!' she thought.

Hermione reached the library and entered. No one was in there, it seemed, there was so quite. She glanced over at the windows and noticed that the sun was about to set.

"He better not be late!" said Hermione under her breath to herself.

"Oh don't worry, Granger," said a voice behind her and made her start, "I'm never late." Hermione turned around and saw Draco standing there, not far from her.

"Well good," said Hermione and glared at Draco. He, too, wasn't wearing his school robes, no, instead he was wearing a pair of black pants and a black blouse that appeared to be Kashmir. His hair wasn't slicked back, like it usually was, instead it was loose and messy. 'Okay, just admit it, Hermione, he looks absolutely gorgeous!' thought she, 'Well, except for that smirk attached on his face.'

"Well, well, Granger. If my eyes aren't betraying me, you practically look civilized," said Draco and his smirk grew even wider and there was something about the look in his eyes that gave Hermione an ominous feeling.

"Look, Malfoy, I didn't come here to listen to your pathetic insults!" said Hermione.

"Now, now. No need to get offended. If you didn't notice it was actually a compliment," said Draco. Still smirking.

"Then you really need to learn a lot about socializing with women and proper behavior around other decent humans!" said Hermione, speaking very fast. Draco simply laughed at this.

"Well, if you didn't show up to listen to 'my pathetic insults', then why did you show up?" said Draco.

"Um, because you told me to!" said Hermione, she was starting to get angry. What was he playing at? Why was he asking her this?

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Well, you didn't have to come if you didn't want to," said he and looked a little hurt. Hermione was confused.

"That wasn't the impression I was under," said Hermione, "You practically forced me to show up or perhaps I misunderstood something?"

"Yeah, yeah. The important thing is that you're here and I'm here. Now if you're done talking, can we go?" said Draco.

"Er.. go? Where to?" said Hermione who Draco had gotten very confused by this point.

"Somewhere else than here!" said Draco impatiently. Then he grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her out the library and out in the corridor.

"Hey, hey, ouch! Let go!" said Hermione, but Draco didn't let go of her, he only loosened his grip a little, but kept pulling her along. Hermione tried to keep up, Draco was walking so fast. 'What's with the rush?' she thought.

Soon she found herself standing a very familiar place on the seventh floor. Draco had just let her go from his grip and was now standing with his hand over his mouth, muttering something. Then he walked back and forth infront of the wall three times. A door appeared out of no where.

"But how did you know?" asked Hermione surprised.

"Oh, don't think you and your stupid club are the only ones in this school who knows of this room," said Draco and smirked.

They kept staring at each other for a little while, but then Draco opened the door and gestured for Hermione to enter first. She did, surprised by Draco suddenly showing manners.

When Hermione entered she saw a beautiful room, despite the fact that it was decorated in the Slytherin colours. There was a grand table in the middle of the room set for a dinner for two. Several places around the room there was candles lit and a few vases with fresh flowers. In one corner there was a large four poster bed similar to the ones in the dormitories. Hermione turned around and looked sceptical at Draco.

Draco closed the door behind them and turned to look at Hermione. He smirked when he saw her expression.

"Impressive, isn't it?" said Draco proud.

"Yeah.." replied Hermione.

"I'm not sure what you want to do first.. Eat? Sit down and _talk_? Or?" said Draco.

"Talking sounds nice," said Hermione and smiled slightly at Draco.

He gestured for her to sit down on a green sofa that appeared in another corner. Soon they were both settled on the sofa and Draco and herself were in a deep conversation about their favourite subjects at Hogwarts. Hermione admired Draco's abilities in a conversation, she had never imagined that she'd be able to have such a interesting conversation with him, well she'd never imagined herself having a decent conversation with him at all, but there they were talking as if they had been friends forever. Hermione admitted she quite enjoyed herself, and that Draco was quite…human and attractive, underneath his repulsive facade.

After a while they continued to the dining table to eat. Hermione noticed how Draco kept glancing over at her while they ate and she couldn't help, but to blush a little.

After dinner they went back to the sofa to talk some more. This time Draco sat closer to Hermione, so close that she could feel the warmth of his body. She watched him while he talked. How he kept looking at her and how his lips moved, how his lovely, pink lips moved. She wanted to touch them, to kiss them. Her heart started racing, when she found herself staring at them.

Draco casually put his arm around her and this made Hermione's heart race even more, but she enjoyed being this close to him. She wanted him to go further and as if Draco had read her mind, he stopped talking and with his other hand he brushed a wisp of her hair behind her ear. Hermione held her breath, as he moved his hand down her cheek towards her lips. His thumb touched her lip and for a second they had eye contact, and then Draco leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. Hermione seethed with desire and felt herself being consumed by the taste of him. She ran her fingers through his blonde hair, messing it even more up and then she put her arms around his neck. Draco's hand slid down her side and pulled her closer, still intensely kissing.

Hermione moaned when he trailed kisses down her neck and sucked slightly on her collar.

Draco's hands went inside her blouse and he pulled it over her head and off. Then he continued his trail of kisses down her chest. One of his hands found its way to her back and he unlocked her bra, revealing her swollen breasts. He gently kissed her nipples, making her moan once again. He had his one hand on her thigh and he now began to move it in circles, moving up under her skirt, decreasing the distance to the deep wetness between her legs. He was there. With a smooth movement, he pulled her panties off, exposing her flower. He teased her for a while, then he went inside her with a couple of fingers. He started pleasuring her and he could hear her breath becoming faster and faster. Once or twice Draco looked up to see her face. Her face was a bit flushed from the heat between them and her eyes were half-closed in pleasure. It wasn't long before Hermione came, "Draacooo…" she moaned and writhed under the weight of Draco's body and her pupils widened. Draco kissed her once more, then allowed her to catch her breath again.

Hermione sat up straight and fixed her clothes.

They sat, not moving, in silence for a while. Awkward silence. Draco was the first to speak.

"Bet you've never tried that before," he said.

Hermione looked at him and saw that he was smiling, she had expected him to be smirking, but he was actually smiling. She liked it when he smiled. He looked so much better with a smile upon his face, instead of his arrogant smirk. But it was true, she had never tried that before, since Ron and her had only be _together_ once., and it had been completely different. Draco was definitely experienced, not that Hermione was surprised, that was only what you could expect with all the Slytherin girls being all over him all the time.

"Well.." she said and blushed, "I haven't." She smiled and her eyes met his grey eyes.

"You deserve so much better," said Draco, suddenly serious. Hermione didn't know how to react.

"You really do. Those blokes don't see you for who you really are," he continued. Hermione got up and walked over to the window. It was completely dark outside.

"You know I'm right, Hermione, they don't appreciate you. All they see is a Know-It-All, who can do their homework and help out when they're in trouble," said Draco. Tears were starting to gather in Hermione's eyes and she was glad Draco couldn't see her face. She couldn't help, but to feel somewhere deep down that some of his words were true and this kept her from defending her friends and her boyfriend.

"You're so much more than that, and I see that," he said and Hermione could hear that he had also gotten up from the sofa and was on his way over to her.

He put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them gently. She turned around and found herself pressing her lips against his. Not gentle as he had kissed her before, but more rough and desperate.

When she finally let go of him again, he simply smiled compassionately at her.

"Come on, I'll walk you to your common room," he said kindly. Hermione nodded and Draco put his arm around her and lead her out of the Room of Requirement and through the corridors to the Gryffindor common room.

Outside the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione told Draco she had had a lovely evening and Draco said that they could do it again anytime and then he kissed her goodnight and left her, making his way back to his own common room.

"Wild at heart," was the password Hermione said to the Fat Lady. The portrait swung open and allowed Hermione to enter. The common room appeared to be empty and Hermione couldn't wait to be back in her room and go through the events of the day, but half way across the common room, Hermione stopped when she heard someone speak.

"Had a nice evening?" said a voice full of hatred. Hermione, who had been looking at her feet now looked up and saw someone sitting in a armchair over by the fireplace. It was Ron and the parchment in his hands appeared to be Harry's Marauders Map.

'Damn!' thought Hermione.

A little bit shorter than usual, but I hope you liked it anyway.

Please R&R :)


	8. Facing the Consequences

**Disclaimer: **Blah blah blah..own nothing..you know the drill..

**A/N: **Thanks for all your reviews. I appreciate them so much heart  
As some of you might have guessed, we are getting closer and closer to the end of this fic. I suspect there will be one, maybe two, chapters left, but hey, what do I know? I'm only the author ::wink::  
Anyway, here you have chapter eight. Please read and review :)

**Chapter Eight – Facing the Consequences**

"Ron?" almost shrieked Hermione, "Er.. What are you doing up?" Asked Hermione casually, as if nothing had happened.

Hermione could see, in the light from the flames in the fireplace, Ron's expression on his face. It looked like he was very upset. No, very upset couldn't do it. He looked completely pissed off. In fact, Hermione couldn't recall seeming him this furious. His face was outstandingly pale and his eyes were burning with fury.

The glare Ron aimed at her, reminded her of the glare Snape would send her every time she tried to help Neville with his potion in Potions class. If Ron was Snape, he would be shouting soon.

Hermione could feel her stomach turning. Oh, she was definitely in trouble.

Hermione stood in silence, waiting for Ron to make the first move. To give her a sign. How much did he know? Should she explain what had happened?

This was bad. Very bad, indeed.

Finally, to Hermione's relief, Ron spoke.

"So, Harry and me noticed you were gone after the Quidditch match and instead of running all over the school, searching for you, we decided we'd use this very unique map. You might have heard of it, it's called the Marauder's Map," he raised an eyebrow as a gesture for Hermione to answer.

"Yes, Ron, I am familiar with the map," said Hermione and suddenly her feet seemed very interesting to her.

"Right. So we used the map to see where you were and would you believe what we found out?" said Ron sarcastically.

"No, Ron, what did you find out?" said Hermione. Still very interested in her feet.

"Surprisingly enough, you weren't in the library, nor in the Great Hall," he started to pace, "You weren't outside on the school grounds. Harry and me started to get a little worried, but then we noticed your name in The Room of Requirement… WITH THAT SLIMY FERRET MALFOY!" he bellowed, startling Hermione.

"WHAT IN THE UNIVERSE WERE YOU DOING WITH HIM? I suspect you must have been enjoying yourself, 'cause you were with him for quite a long time, but then again, I couldn't really believe that OUR Hermione was having fun with our albino enemy, The Prince of Darkness. No, I could simply not believe that _MY_ GIRLFRIEND was with someone who has tormented us for YEARS!" said Ron angrily and looked at Hermione through narrow, fiery eyes.

Tears were slowly gathering in Hermione's eyes. What had she done? What had she been thinking? And then a more Slytherin-ish thought popped up in her mind; Why on earth did she have to get caught?

'Oh, why did I think I was able to pull this off?' thought a desperate Hermione.

What could she do? She realised, she had to tell Ron the truth. She knew she couldn't lie to him.

"Yes, you are absolutely right, Ron. I was with Dra.. Malfoy," said she seriously, "And I will not deny that I did, in fact, have fun with him."

Ron opened his eyes wide, but then narrowed them in again quick. An awful sneer appeared on his face.

"You disgust me!" said Ron harshly.

"Okay, I deserved that one," admitted Hermione and looked away from his killer gaze.

"Apparently, you are not the person I thought you were!" He paused and glanced over at the fire.

"I hope you realise how much it hurts me to do this!" said Ron, almost trembling.

"Do what? Hurts you to do what?" asked Hermione worried. Ron sighed, then once again pierced her with his burning eyes.

"It's over, Hermione. WE are OVER!" shouted Ron.

The tears that had burned in Hermione's eyes, threatening to let a river a loose, finally won.

"Wha-what?" whispered Hermione, "But, no! Please Ron," she begged.

"Tell me, Hermione, that you do not have feelings for this guy! Tell me, that you haven't forgiven him for all the times he called you a 'Mudblood'! Tell me, that I haven't lost you to _him_!" said Ron, who was on the edge of tears.

A million thoughts collided in Hermione's head. A part of her was screaming at her, telling her to just break down, sobbing, and tell Ron that she still loved him and her affair with Malfoy had just been one big mistake. Another part of her was telling her that she would only be lying to herself if she told Ron those things. A third part told her to just get the hell out of there and never come back.

The thought-train she had been riding was broken off when Ron spoke again. Her thoughts kept her from answering Ron and she now noticed a tear falling from Ron's one eye.

"That's what I thought. You can't say those things to me, can you? You love him and not me. Well, thank you, Hermione Granger, for breaking my heart. May you two be happy together." And with those cold words, Ron left a breathless Hermione.

The words Ron had just said to her, hurt so much. 'Probably not as much as you hurt Ron!' thought Hermione. Suddenly, a great burden of guilt was placed upon Hermione's shoulders. Who was she to hurt Ron? How dared she betray Ron and Harry like that? _Sleeping with the enemy. _Hermione shook her own head in disgust.

'But wait a minute! You enjoyed it, didn't you? You felt truly alive when Draco touched you. You lusted for his kisses! You even wanted more, you filthy whore!'

"STOP IT!" yelled Hermione and ran up the stairs to her room. Now her own mind was betraying her, but what it said was… true.

She slammed the door behind her, locked it and muttered a silencing spell.

'This is awful! What have I done?' thought Hermione and threw herself on her bed and buried her face in the pillows.

'Oh, would you quit the whining? Seriously, you know exactly what you've done. You lived for a while and now you're paying! You heard him, you're over! It's your own fault, anyway.'

The voice in her head was right, she couldn't lie there crying. It _was_ her own fault. So, the question was; Where do you go from here?

With the decision to sleep on the events of the day and deal with everything in the morning, Hermione went to bed.

The next morning Hermione awoke feeling well-rested and calm and she was determined to keep the calmness, so she pushed all the thoughts about the previous night away from her.

While getting dressed, Hermione pondered about what she should do all day, being way ahead in all her homework, she had decided to take this day off to relax and gather her strength from the stressing week that she had had.

"Perhaps a nice walk outside would do its good?" muttered she to herself.

After putting on a warm robe, she made her way through the castle. There weren't many students in corridors, since, unlike Hermione, most of the other students weren't ahead in their homework, so they usually spent their Sunday writing all their essays.

The cold February breeze hit Hermione, the minute she stepped outside, and made her thank herself for remembering to put on a warm robe.

Her feet brought her to the lake, where she sat on the ground. The water was stirring slightly and Hermione knew that the Giant Squid was moving somewhere below the surface.

Maybe she had been wrong to go and see Draco yesterday. Perhaps she should just have stayed away. Though, what Draco had said last night had made an impression on Hermione. The words he had said, had sounded a bit harsh, but still something deep inside Hermione, couldn't help but to believe they were true.

Maybe she really did deserve better. Maybe she did deserve more. And maybe Draco was the one to give her that.

While sitting there with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring at the lake, Hermione lost track of time and wasn't brought back to reality before she heard a noise behind her. She turned her head quickly and found a raven-haired boy approaching her.

"Harry," said Hermione, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk, Hermione," said Harry seriously, when he reached her. He sat down beside her and Hermione looked into his big, green eyes. She had a feeling this wouldn't be a nice talk.

Several minutes passed in silence, none of them moved. Harry was the one to break the ice.

"Seriously, Hermione, what were you thinking?"

Once again Hermione's eyes found her feet interesting. What had she been thinking?

In that moment Hermione realised why she had gone to such extremes; For once in her life she had wanted to do something not like her. An unpredictable move. Something that would make people unable to label her as an annoying Know-It-All Gryffindor. Deep inside, hidden behind her devotion to duty, she had wanted to do something _forbidden_. Allowing their enemy to get as close as Draco got _was_ forbidden. And she had known that, but done it anyway. Now she had to suffer the consequences.

"Okay, then. Just tell me something, because I don't understand. Why would you rather be with _Malfoy_?" He pronounced 'Malfoy' in a tone of disgust.

Through her watery eyes, Hermione looked at Harry.

"Because I felt alive when he touched me. Because I felt appreciated. He made me feel desired and wanted.." said Hermione, trembling.

"Oh, say no more," said Harry and looked as though he was going to throw up.

"Alright then, you must know that Ron probably won't ever talk or look at you again."

"Yes, I expected that."

"Okay, then you must know that I'm on his side."

The last words felt as a knife had been stabbed right into Hermione's heart. Great, so now she had lost her boyfriend AND her best friend. Just great.

They looked at each other for a while, directly in the eyes, then Harry got up and left Hermione to herself, without any further comments.

So this was the price she had to pay for her mischief? Surprisingly, a part of her felt like it was actually worth it. Though, something in her was a little bit hurt to have lost both Ron and Harry.

Everything overwhelmed her and soon she was crying silently, luckily no one was around to hear her. At least that was what she thought, but not far from her, were two grey eyes watching her and had been for a long time.

Draco Malfoy had been watching Hermione while she had been talking with Harry, now when she was finally alone, he made his way over to her.

"Sitting here all by yourself, are you Granger?" he said cockily.

"Obviously not, you're here," said Hermione coldly without looking at Draco.

"Oooh, someone's in a bad mood, huh?" he said and smirked.

Yeah, she was. So what? In a matter of no time, she had fucked her life completely up.

Hermione was just about to snap back at him, but then she reasoned with herself, after all, it wasn't Draco's fault. Only a little bit.

"Yeah, sorry, just had a bad morning, that's all," she muttered.

"Yeah, you did, didn't you? Good thing, I'm here now," said Draco and gloated, "You see I have a special gift for cheering up people," he continued and moved closer to Hermione.

Hermione felt a tickle in her stomach. She had a faint idea about what he meant and she smirked slightly by it.

Draco was now sitting next to her, very close. Hermione looked into his sparkling grey eyes as he slowly moved his head closer to hers.

Their lips met in an intense kiss that made Hermione forget about all the bad things that had happened since last night. All the pain faded away, when his fingers caressed her skin.

When they parted again, Hermione didn't want to open her eyes. She didn't want to go back to reality, she wanted to stay with Draco forever in that moment.

"Come with me, Granger," demanded Draco and got up from the ground. Hermione followed him, very confused.

"Draco, where are we going?" she asked, while trying to keep up with him. He seemed to be in an awful hurry.

"Back to the school," she could hear him answer.

Hermione caught up with Draco, just before they entered the castle.

"Oh yeah, just so you know, I'm not seeing Ron anymore," said Hermione, on their way into the Entrance Hall, "So, I guess, I'm completely yours now," said she and smiled slightly.

Draco stopped and turned around to face her. To Hermione's surprise, he was smirking.

"Oh, well isn't that just lovely. You broke up with the Weasel, all just for me?" said Draco loudly, making sure everyone close to them could hear him.

Hermione glared puzzled at him.

"Wha-what?" she stuttered. She noticed Draco's eyes weren't sparkling like they had done when he had kissed her only minutes ago.

"Well, newsflash, Granger. I don't want you!" said Draco and sneered. Hermione's eyes widened and she was pretty sure she had dropped her jar.

"Now, get lost, Mudblood!"

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

So, what do you think?  
Just so you know, I enjoyed writing this angsty chaper so much! ::mwah::

Reviews anyone? ;)


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